A New Life

Dressed in a lovely flowing black dress I walked solemnly to the celebration. Aunt Asteria was my most favorite aunt, even though she technically was not family. Asteria was my late mother’s best friend, they spent so much time together that she was basically my other mom. It happened late last year Asteria was diagnosed with stage four breast cancer, the doctors gave her one year to live, she didn’t make it one year. After her diagnosis, she went straight to chemotherapy and from then her health deteriorated quickly. Now here I am walking into her funeral, walking into my second mother’s funeral. As one can imagine I was a mess. The funeral was an elegant affair celebrating her life. I thought I was the last one left at the funeral so I left my purse and phone on my seat and went to say goodbye one last time. Walking out of the funeral I was numb and did not realize that there was a paper in between my phone and purse.

I got back to my small “apartment” it was basically a hole, it was one room and a tiny bathroom. I tossed my purse on my couch and went to lay in bed and cry. While I was crying I apparently fell asleep. I woke up at 5 pm and checked my phone as expected, I had no messages or calls. As I got up to stretch I found the paper.

“Dear Ara,

As you know Asteria was very wealthy. Asteria included you in her will. We invite you to come to the reading of her will. This reading will take place Monday, March 1, 2021 at 11am. As per her wishes only you will be in the room for the reading of what she left you. We hope to see you there. We are sorry for your loss.

-Pictor law (303)-111-2222

955 Scheuvront Drive

Denver, Colorado 80211”

Confused, I felt extremely confused. I saw her as a second mother but, she had 8 children who are all extremely greedy from growing up living in a fancy house. As I reread it I notice that this reading is taking place tomorrow while I am supposed to be working. I decided that the reading of the will was more important and I texted my manager saying that I am going to take a personal day tomorrow. This day was long and tiring. I went and grabbed a granola bar and headed back to bed to sleep off my sadness.

Waking up at 10am I still feel horrible and sad but I got dressed in some jeans and a sweatshirt and got in my car and headed towards Denver. When I arrived I saw all eight of Astria’s kids fighting about money out front of the building, I knew none of them like me so I decided to call the number they left me to ask if I could come in yet.

“Hello, this is Ara here for the reading of Astria’s will.”

“Oh yes thank you for coming as you can tell Mrs.Astria’s kids are out front fighting over the will. Astria knows that they did not like you so if you want drive around back and come in the back door that would be amazing”

I hung up and drove around back. When I got there someone was waiting outside to greet me.

“Welcome, welcome. We do not want to waste your time so here is what she left you. She left you $20,000 with no catches; it will be in this bank account starting at noon. She also left you her vacation house up in Vail. Lastly she left you a black notebook. We were told not to open the notebook. You are not required to pay taxes on everything she gave you enough to cover taxes. That is all she left you, you can choose if you want to tell anyone or not.”

I was shocked to silence. Those were her most prized possessions. She always carried that small black notebook and would not let anyone look in it. The vacation home in Vail was her favorite. My guess is that her kids were fighting over the vacation home in Vail and were confused because none of them got it.

“Thank you for telling me. Have a great day.”

I drove home and wondered about what was in the little black notebook. Once home I went inside and opened the notebook and read what she had written.

‘Dear Ara,

If you are reading this that means I have passed away I just wanted you to know that I loved you like my own daughter. In this book I have filled it out every time I have been near you, from the minute you were born to my last days.’

As I read I was balling there were memories I didn’t remember including ones of my mother that I never knew because my mom passed away when I was six.

‘Today I found out I have stage four breast cancer, the doctors give me two months to live. I do not want to be treated differently so I will tell everyone I have one year. I know this is going to break your heart Ara I am so sorry to leave you so suddenly. As you know I left you $20,000 and my house in Vail in my will, in addition to that I set up a bank account for you where every time I bought something for one of my kids I would put the same amount in this account for you. I also have a safety deposit box for you. Everything in it is a birthday present for every year until you are fifty. Now what I want you to do is sell your closet of a house and move up to my Vail house. I have work set up for you up there. I know my children are jealous so do not be surprised if they come up to the Vail house to see who got it. I have eight letters on the counter there explaining that it is your house and if they bug you about it you call my lawyers and they will give you some of their inheritance they get over the course of their life. Sweety take time for yourself, you deserve it. I love you and I will miss you.’

That was her last entry to the notebook. I was in absolute shock over what she had done to care for me despite her greedy children. After a couple of minutes I decided to start packing up my things and take some things up to the Vail house. When I got there all eight of her kids were trying to pick the lock to get into the house. Rolling my eyes I park on the street and start heading up to the door once they notice me they start being very nasty. I already know the lockbox combination because she wrote it in her journal. I politely ask them to move and when they don’t I tell them I know the combination and I also know that there is something in there for each of them. That quickly got them to move out of my way once the door opened they rushed in, besides the furniture the house is empty. They quickly find the notes and their faces fall so quickly once they read them. As they slowly left they all gave me nasty looks and threatened me.

Once gone I finally felt comfortable going to grab my things out of my car to bring inside. That is when I found a note with the garage door combination, and the combination to the storage area. Opening the garage I pulled my car into there as much as possible but I solved the mystery of where everything in the house went. It was shoved in the garage so her kids could not get to it as they left the property.

One month later I finally sold my apartment, quit my job in Denver, and had finally completely moved into the Vail house. With the $20,000 I paid off all my student loans from college and decided that the big house was lonely so I bought an abandoned puppy from a nearby shelter. This life I now live would not have been possible without Astria’s kindness. In honor of her, I donate twenty percent of my paycheck to breast cancer awareness.